Ukiah nuisance property gets cleaned-up

Nearly a decade after the neighbors started complaining, piles of junk were removed from a home on North Bush Street Thursday morning to the delight of several bystanders.

"It is so exciting," said Lauren McPhaul, standing across the street from Danny Jacques' home in the 1300 block of N. Bush Street with Joy Beeler. "I'll bet the neighbors are thrilled."

McPhaul said she lived a few blocks from Jacques' home and has been bothered by the "eyesore" for years, telling visitors to use to Empire Drive to get to her house so they wouldn't drive by the collection.

Ukiah Police Department Capt. Trent Taylor said he began receiving complaints about the amount of stuff -- stacks of metal siding, upside-down canopies, tarps and numerous ladders and wheelbarrows -- amassing in Jacques' front and back yards in 2004.

For several years, Taylor said his department wrote letters to Jacques about his property, but it wasn't until earlier this year when an ordinance allowing the city to clean up such properties was adopted that he gained traction.

In August, Taylor served Jacques notice that his property was violating city codes because the build-up of items in his yards was visible to his neighbors and was attracting rodents, among other issues, and needed to be abated.

As allowed in the ordinance, Jacques filed an appeal and was granted a hearing in September before the Hearing Examiner, who declared the property a nuisance and allowed the abatement to continue.

Since then, Taylor said Jacques has been cleaning up the property himself, getting a dumpster and a U-Haul truck for his items.

"He asked for more time and I gave him a couple of extra weeks," Taylor said, explaining that Jacques' work made a two-hour job out of what he was expecting to take all day. "He's been very cooperative. He's been a trooper."

Jacques was equally complimentary of Taylor, but said he was "very frustrated by the process" that culminated with several C&S Waste Solutions employees at his house filling up two dumpsters -- one with wood waste and one with scraps of metal and other materials.

"I'm a great neighbor," he said, explaining that he was always willing to help people and he felt his neighbors had trespassed on and vandalized his property over the years by either trying to get rid of stuff or purposely throwing soccer balls through his fence.

Jacques said he ran a business out of his home providing various services, including selling items at flea markets, and that most of the items in his yards were either tools, equipment or things he was going to sell.

"Some of it was decorations," he said, explaining that not everyone has the same taste when it comes to items displayed outdoors.

He went on to say he did not believe the city's actions were "constitutional," describing them as an "invasion of privacy" and "an abuse of power" because his next-door neighbors are related to a UPD officer.

Since Jacques did not feel most of the stuff outside his home was junk, Taylor said the crew was allowing him to cull through it before it was tossed, and Jacques also filled a large truck with items he said he was taken to a storage unit.

David Guzman's parents have lived next-door to Jacques for 25 years and keep a well-manicured front lawn with a row of tall rose bushes along the fence they share with him. Guzman said he built the fence "so I didn't have to see all the junk he has" and he and his brother have offered to help clean up Jacques' property and landscape it over the years.

"We said we wouldn't charge him, but he said the water (for the upkeep) would be too expensive," Guzman said.

Guzman said they are not the only people who were unhappy with Jacques' house, as he distributed a petition a few years ago that included "50 signatures from the neighbors."

Taylor said he could not use city crews for the clean-up and would likely be charged about $2,000 to $3,000 for the day. The bill will be given to Jacques.

"The city doesn't want to do this -- we want to let people voluntarily comply," said Taylor, explaining that he also noticed a property on Betty Street but the residents cleaned it up themselves.

Justine Frederiksen can be reached at udjjf@pacific.net, on Twitter @JustFrederiksen or at 468-3521.